Thug Life: Mani Ratnam-Kamal Haasan's sophomore alliance is thankfully not Nayakan

Every frame of Thug Life, director Mani Ratnam and actor Kamal Haasan's sophomore collaboration after Nayakan, has a story to tell.

- SUBHASH K JHA

Every frame of Thug Life, director Mani Ratnam and actor Kamal Haasan's sophomore collaboration after Nayakan, has a story to tell. And I don't mean that in any divisive, showoffy-art way. While we stare wondrously at what cinematographer Ravi Chandran has done to every frame (and make no mistake, Chandran is this breathtaking film's other hero after Kamal Haasan), we also get a drift of the individual artwork that comes together finally to give us a gangster epic on a par with Kamal-Mani's much-revered Nayakan.

Yes, Thug Life is THAT good! The writing is sharp (most of the time), and the way Mani Ratnam sneaks in humour in dramatic constructs is sheer genius. Reading reviewers' comments on the familiar ground walked by Mani Ratnam, I am reminded of what my friend Javed Akhtar said about film lyrics. "Bhai, gaane toh sab ek jaise hote hain, pyar judaai, ehsaas, milan... It is how you use words. That's where the poetry lies."